Blackwater to Caledonian Canal

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DavidTav

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I am planning a trip from the Blackwater to West Scotland via Caledonian Canal in May in a fairly small boat, I have a few major stops planned ie. Lowestoft, Whitby, Amble, Sunderland/Hartlepool,Eyemouth ,Dunbar/N.Berwick,Anstruther/Arbroath,Stonehaven,,Peterhead, Whitehills - anyway point of my post is to ask for any advice about boltholes esp. crossing the Wash. Thanks.
 
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bolt holes for the wash,

Blakney wells, brancaster, especially wells as being dredged so access should be 4-5 hours either side of HW on springs more on neeps.

behind spurn good if wind not offshore

A must visit is holy island and a trip around the Farne islands and over night at the kettle anchorage, such a beautiful place and criminal to miss out.
 
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Up the East Coast.

David,
Did the same trip last year, with similar stop off points, Lowestoft, Whitby, Newcastle, Eyemouth, Arbroath, Aberdeen, Peterhead, Lossiemouth,Inverness....then on to the west coast for four months...came back thru the Caley and varied ports of call a bit on the way back....Super trip and very enjoyable, despite the RAIN!!
As we had run out of self Steering gear on the way home tended to go for 10-12 hour chunks, (just the two of us) except for the Whitby-L'stft leg when we had an extra crew person and could go for it in one hit....on t'other hand we are a little larger so able to keep around the 6knots on passage.. Happy to talk...
 
If you are close to the wash and an on shore gale kicks up then it can be fun,Wells is difficult after a force 6,dont know how the new dredging works are going to help.Kings lynn is the most acessable of the wash ports in real heavy weather after that the next bolt hole is the humber,again tricky in onshore winds but as alex said,spurn gives a good anchorage in onshore winds.

Are you going to moor your boat in the Scottish west coast?

The sailing there is excellent,the scenery is stunning and its cheaper, a lot cheaper than down south for moorings,even the marinas charge less
 
Thanks for these replies, a lot of useful info here to assist my planning. My boat is a Virgo Voyager which at 23 ft. I know is very small to undergo such a voyage. I won't be alone though, I will be ably assisted by another couple of blokes from my sailing club, my idea is to get the boat up to the West Coast of Scotland and keep it there for a couple of months at least. I'm also interested in where on the West Coast I might be able to keep the boat fairly cheaply, perhaps on a swinging mooring? I could easily be persuaded to leave the boat in Scotland until next year, but cost is a consideration as I'm not really earning much at present.
 
ill try to get in touch with a friend who knows where the cheap moorings are.I know that he pays 45 quid a year for his one at Oban and that there is a more sheltered group of moorings in one of the Sea lochs.
 
DavidTav said:
Thanks for these replies, a lot of useful info here to assist my planning. My boat is a Virgo Voyager which at 23 ft. I know is very small to undergo such a voyage. I won't be alone though, I will be ably assisted by another couple of blokes from my sailing club, my idea is to get the boat up to the West Coast of Scotland and keep it there for a couple of months at least. I'm also interested in where on the West Coast I might be able to keep the boat fairly cheaply, perhaps on a swinging mooring? I could easily be persuaded to leave the boat in Scotland until next year, but cost is a consideration as I'm not really earning much at present.
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Have a look @ Barcaldine Marine on Loch Creran..about 6m north of Oban...seemed to be the most reasonably priced moorings around....By the way, most marina's seem to charge around the £30... for 12m....( I know you are not that big) but its a bit more on the west coast than the east.....Lossie, Whitehills etc around the £10. mark.
 
Glayva said:
A Virgo Voyager was the first boat to arrive under 25 feet at Terceira in the Jester Azores Challenge 2008. So they are quite capable of fairly long voyages.
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That is really interesting, I wasn't aware of that, I have been as far as Calais in mine and it all seemed perfectly ok.
 
Karouise said:
Trying to get ready for a trans atlantic in under 4 months? :eek:

Ask me in May 2012 if 3 years planning and preparation has been long enough. Maybe I just worry too much.
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Thought about doing the crossing in Sixpence this year, but as I doubt I'll be up to the Oostende meeting it could be a bit of a dream to think about going any further than the stitching up supper :eek:
 
Dave,

Looks like there will be two Marconi boats going "Ooop North", I'll be going May and going Lowestoft to Wells then Grimsby, Bridlington after that It'll be pretty much port hopping all the way to the canal.

Must not miss out Holy Island though - by reputation memorable.

I'd reccomend Wells very welcoming harbour, done the trip from Lowestoft previously took approx 11hr's so possible in a day, Grimsby's about the same - after that distance's are under 50 miles between ports, unless you want to bat on that is.

I'm more likely to take my time as I'm "dun-workin" and like you will look to overwinter in Scotland as cheap as poss so maybe we can swop info, have e-mailed you my plan.

David.
 
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